Wrist watch bracelet attachment



Jan. 1, 1957 E. E. FACHON 2,775,861

WRIST WATCH BRACELET ATTACHMENT Fild out, 24, 1955 .IIVVENTOR. EMI E. FACHON ATTORNEY United States Patent WRIST WATCH BRACELET ATTACHMENT Emil E. Fachon, Edgewood, R. L, assignor to Bulova Watch Company, Inc., Flushing, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 24, 1955, Serial No. 542,227

6 Claims. (Cl. 58-88) The present invention relates to a wrist watch attached to the terminals of a bracelet or band and relates more particularly to a structure which serves to improve the appearance of the connection between the bracelet terminals and the casing of the Watch. I

It is well known that the majority of wrist watches are provided with extending lugs to which are hingedly secured the terminalsof a bracelet or band. The lugs are provided with oppositely disposed apertures or cavities to receive spring actuated pins or trunnions, of what are terms spring bars, which latter are disposed in sleeves at the ends of the bracelet whereby the bracelet or band is removable secured to watch lugs integral with the watch case.

This arrangement which is widely employed for attaching or detaching a bracelet to a watch casing, although satisfactory from a practical standpoint, detracts from the ornamental result sought in that the actual terminal of the bracelet is spaced from the casing thus reducing the degree of the desired overall ornamental effect.

As is well known, the appearance of a Wrist watch and bracelet or band is of paramount importance and considerable thought as well as time and effort have been expended in the provision of an article of this character to attain public acceptance.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a, mechanical structure and arrangement to improve the appearance of a wrist watch and bracelet in attaining a harmonious overall appearance between a wrist watch and connected bracelet or band.

Another object of the invention is to provide what may be termed a filler-member to occupy the space intermediate the bracelet terminal and the watch casing when the bracelet is attached to the lugs of a watch.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fillermember for convenient application to or removal from the watch lugs and having a surface in harmony with the attached bracelet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fillermember which may be readily applied for use with a bracelet of a given design or removed for the substitution of a filler-member of a different design.

Another object of the invention is to provide a watch case with lugs so formed and arranged as to receive and retain filler-members having different surface designs.

Another object of the invention is to provide a watch case having lugs so formed as to cooperate with the spring bar of a bracelet terminal to retain a filler-member between the lugs of the watch case.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following description together with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of a wrist watch connected to the terminals of a bracelet and showing a filler-member in place between the watch casing and one terminal of the bracelet;

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Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse cross sectional view taken on line II--II in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a wrist watch and bracelet terminal with the filler-member in position to be inserted between the lugs of the watch;

Fig. 4 is an exploded plan view of the watch lugs and filler member and showing the spring bar which serves to connect the bracelet terminal to the watch lugs; and,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line VV in Fig. 4.

The present invention may be applied to any form of wrist watch having laterally extending lugs, modified as hereinafter described. One practical embodiment of the invention is shown as applied to a wrist watch 10 having oppositely disposed pairs of spaced apart lugs 11 and 12 integral with watch case 13. The lugs 11 and 12 extend from the casing and serve to receive and retain the terminals of a bracelet which may be of any selected design or material, as, for example, of the expansible type 14 consisting of a plurality of link members 15.

At each end of the bracelet is a tubular sleeve 16 to receive a spring bar 17. This spring bar is of well known construction and includes a casing 18 containing a helical spring 19 which normally urges trunnions 21 and 22 outwardly from the ends of casing; the trunnions or pins being movable inwardly in opposition to spring 19. In practice a spring bar at each end of the bracelet or band is connected to a pair of 'watch lugs by inserting the trunnions into apertures or cavities provided in opposite lugs.

When a bracelet end is connected to a pair of'watch lugs in the usual manner, as shown at the left of Fig. l, the spring bar 17 is spaced from casing 13, leaving a gap or opening 23 which detracts from the desired ornamental appearance of the article.

In accordance with'the present invention the space or gap 23 is occupied by what is herein termed a fillermember 24. This filler-member may, as shown, include a cross-bar 25 having a surface ornamentation in harmony with and simulating a link member 15 of the expansion bracelet 14. As will be evident, the crossbar or filler may be of any selected design as, for example, when employed in connection with a band or strap other than metal, the filler may be formed to provide an outer surface to give any selected desirable effect.

The present filler-member which includes the cross-bar 25 is formed with extensions or guide-arms 26 and 27 integral with opposite ends of the cross-bar 25. Each of said guide-arms is formed with a guide surface 28 consisting of a side guide wall 29 and a bottom guide wall 31 at right angles thereto. The guide surfaces 28 are so arranged as to slidably engage guide surfaces 32 and 33 formed on opposing sides of lugs 11 and 12 respectively. Thus the filler-member 24 may be slid into position between the lugs. When the watch casing 13 is circular, the cross-bar 25 is formed with a curved surface 30 having the same radius as the radius of surface 30 of the casing. Thus, when in position between the lugs of the watch, the cross-bar 25 of the filler-member makes intimate contact with the curved surface of watch case 13.

When the filler-member is disposed betweenthe watch lugs, an end of a bracelet, provided with a spring bar, is attached to the lugs in the usual manner. In order to provide for this connecting means, each lug of the watch casing is formed with a side wall 34 provided with a cavity 35 and a top surface or ridge 36 to engage guide wall 31 of the filler-member. For the purpose of holding the filler-member against displacement, it is formed with extended portions or guide walls 37 for contact with surfaces of side walls 34 of lugs 11 and 12. Each of said portions 37 is formed with a U-shaped notch 38 so po- Patented Jan. 1, 1957 sitioned that when the filler-member is disposed between lugs 11 and 12 and with surface 30 in contact with surface 30 of the casing, the notches 38 will be disposed adjacent to the cavities r apertures 35 of the lugs with the elbow of each U-shaped notch surrounding a cavity 35. The surfaces 33, 3% and 34 of each lug serve as a guide track to slidably receive guide members provided with surfaces 29, 31, and 37 of filler-member 24.

When the filler-member is in position, the spring-bar at the end of a bracelet may be actuated to cause the trunnions 21 and 22 to enter the cavities 35. Thus, the bracelet end may be readily attached to the lugs in the usual manner and by reason of the structure of the fillermember, it is retained in place by the spring-bar trunnions which are disposed in the notches 38 and in the cavities or apertures as required to connect the bracelet to the watch lugs.

As will be evident, the bracelet ends may be detached by actuating the spring-bar trunnions in the well known manner and the filler-member may be removed and replaced by one of a different design to harmonize with the design of a different bracelet to be attached to the watch.

It will also be clear that, although the Watch lugs have been modified to receive a filler-member, a bracelet having spring bar terminals may be attached to the watch lugs in the usual manner with or without the filler member, without variation in the overall conventional appear ance of the connection between the bracelet ends and the lugs to which they are attached.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described herein, it is to be understood that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a Wrist watch having a case with spaced apart lugs to receive a terminal of a bracelet, a filler-member disposed intermediate said lugs and between said terminal and said case, means on said terminal cooperating with means on said lugs to secure said bracelet to and in adjacent relation to said filler-member.

2. In a wrist watch having a case with spaced apart lugs to receive a terminal of a bracelet, a filler-member disposed intermediate said lugs and between said terminal 4 and said case, means on said terminal cooperating with means on said lugs to secure said bracelet to and in adjacent relation to said filler-member, said means cooperating to retain said filler-member in position between said lugs.

3. In a wrist watch having a case with spaced apart lugs to receive a terminal of a bracelet, a filler-member disposed intermediate said lugs and between said terminal and said case, a spring-bar on said terminal, said springbar engaging said lugs to secure said bracelet to and in adjacent relation to said filler-member, and means on said filler-member for engaging said spring-bar to retain said filler-member in position between said lugs.

4. A filler-member for disposition between the lugs of a wrist watch case and between said case and a terminal bracelet link connected to said lugs, said filler-member comprising a cross-bar having laterally extended portions for engaging said lugs and stop members integral with said filler-member positioned to contact means employed for connecting said terminal bracelet link to said lugs, said stop members serving to retain the filler-member between the terminal bracelet link and the case.

5. A filler-member for disposition between the lugs of a wrist watch case and between said case and a terminal bracelet link, connected to said lugs by a spring-bar, said filler-member comprising a cross-bar having laterally extended portions for engaging said lugs and stop members positioned to contact said spring bar to retain the fillermember between said terminal link and the case.

6. A filler for disposition between the lugs of a wrist watch case and between said case and the terminal link of an expansion link bracelet, said filler-member comprising a cross-bar simulating a link of said bracelet, having guide surfaces for engaging surfaces of said lugs and stop members integral with said cross-bar positioned to contact means employed for connecting a bracelet terminal to said lugs to retain the filler-member between said terminal link and the case.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,028,791 Lynds Ian. 28, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 303,005 Switzerland Ian. 17, 1955 

